Saturday, February 25, 2012

Book Binge of President's Day Weekend results

Ahhh.  I had to do too many other grown up things for this to be a real book binge, but I did spend significant chunks of time chasing the sunlight across my floor while reading.  I cleared off a shelf of to-reads.  It was nice.  My hands have been a wreck all week, but consequences are unavoidable.  I suppose retirement is when you don't have any more grown up things on your to do list that keep stealing your time away from reading . . .

Read
  • Black Jack 1-3 by Osamu Tezuka: A-ma-zing.  I am slowly collecting this series, but I hadn't started reading it, frankly, because I was afraid it would gross me out.  I read Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, but I guess I worried about medical grossiosity.  Unnecessary.  Thank goodness for cartoony art style.  I have now realized why they say Tezuka is a master.  This short form has so many restrictions, and it doesn't matter at all.  Wow.
  • Bride's Story 1-2 by Kaoru Mori: So. Beautiful.  Life in central Asia in the 19th century.  So much attention to detail that it will blow your mind.  This could not have worked as well as a simple novel.  Oddly, it reminded me a bit of Suzanne Fisher Staples' Shabanu and Haveli.  It felt like that kind of immersion in another culture, but, unlike Staples' work, which often reads like a worst case scenario handbook, Mori's is mostly about the positive, daily joys and chores of life.
  • The Cage of Zeus by Sayuri Ueda: A bit ham-handed at first, but it still manages to provoke thought.
  • The Crown Conspiracy by Michael J. Sullivan: Good fun that reminds me a bit of some of David Eddings character-centric fantasy works where everybody kind of slowly grow on you, and you hope they don't all die in the end.
  • Itazura no Kiss 1: I don't know why I like this story; it starts out ridiculous, and I would hate the main character in real life.  What can I say?  I'm hooked and sad that the author died before completing the story.  There are a lot of volumes to read before the story ends, though, and I'm looking forward to it.
  • Kekkaishi 30:  Oh, adrenalin and politics.
  • Library Wars 7:  Libraries, freedom, politics.  Loving it.
  • MW by Osamu Tezuka:  I was warned that this was dark.  So bleak. 
  • Natsume's Book of Friends 11:  Sad times.  Seeing a character's painful childhood painted in the colors of wistful.
  • Strawberry Marshmallow 4: Silly and ridiculous, goofy and fun.
  • Twin Spica 9-11:  Good thing I was on the bike when the incident of Sudden Unexpected Character Death occurred because I would have fallen off the stair climber.  Not allowed at the end of a volume!  It really SUCD!  Thank goodness the next volume was waiting for me at home on the other side of 8 hours, or this might have been a fatal blow for me.
  • Two Flowers for the Dragon 1-6: One unpublished volume would finish out the series.  I really don't know who she'll choose, but this was a pretty amazing and fun ride anyway.  And it's the only manga I've ever read where the author points out that polyamory would solve the love triangle problems.
Made progress in
So much more to read . . .

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